So, in these days of recession and job loss, the morning subway rides are more subdued with less peculiar and bizarre behaviors on display. I think it is a symptom of the ever deepening crisis. Everyone — everyone — is keeping his or her head down and staying out of trouble. I don’t mean to suggest that all is rosy and normal underground. The man next to me this morning was coughing up a lung so bacterial and viral life are still thriving.
We dodged a serious bullet when Sarah Palin was not vice president. So, humankind 1, Sarah 0.
Then she scored big while we were feeling sorry for her. As a result of her “quitter” mentality and crazy press blitz, more Republicans than ever before support her and would vote for her for president in 2012. Sarah tied the score at 1 all.
I still think I watched Sarah Palin have a mini-breakdown before the cameras and I felt sorry for her, as I would anyone who was unraveling and even more so because she was doing so in the public view.
Now I also think she is crazy like a fox (or sociopath) AND I don’t understand a portion of the population of this great country.
I am really not crazy.I am really not crazy.I am really not crazy.I am really not crazy.I am really not crazy. (That’s my writing it like I mean it.)
Finding out someone I consider(ed) a friend is cheating on his spouse sent me into the rant that follows. (And I don’t mean a-blame-it-on-alcohol one night stand. I can understand one-time show of colossal stupidity or total lapse of judgment because we are human.)
Maybe I am so upset because, on local and national levels, I wonder where are our humanity and our personal and societal accountability?
Our economy has been destroyed by the greedy and power-hungry — really, if you all only cheated only a little, you would be fabulously rich and 30% of Americans wouldn’t be out of work, homeless, worrying about their jobs, without healthcare or any combo of these.
Our society has been co-opted by power hungry people who control by creating “Us”es and “Them”s — really, you could be kingmakers and then be high-paying pundits without starting a culture war and leaving our national principles among the casualties.
Our religions have been hijacked by radicalism — really, as Elvis Costello asked, what’s so funny about peace, love and understanding? What is wrong with our president’s middle name and his family heritage? And what if a man loved a man?
Our politics are populated by self-serving hypocrites — if you live in a glass house, be generous about the frailty of others lest you be fodder for the 24 hour news recycle. You might even get to do something for the Common Weal instead of the Singular Ego.
Maybe humanity starts with humility. Ok, so I guess that means I should not judge my (former) friend. Instead I should hope he finds his way back to his family. So, I have proved my point by being the very type of self satisfied pompous ass against whom I started this rant. Damn. I hate that.
I’ll plan on being humble tomorrow. Today, I will enjoy being the pompous ass. Because I am mad enough, I am tired enough and, gosh darn it, I am (sort of) good enough to rant today. Apologies to the Senator, formerly known as comedian, Al Franken.
A (former, I hope) CIA analyst appeared on the Glenn Beck show and said the best thing for us is if Bin Laden attacked us again so that the government would finally protect us. (ok, set aside the logical flaws for a moment.)
If this lunatic were, let’s say, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and not some nerdy white guy, would MSNBC be the only news outlet covering this? If Bush were in power, would the guy be on his way to Gitmo?
Gov. Sanford is really lucky.
Just when it looked like he could never recover, Michael Jackson died and Sarah Palin resigned.
And Michael Jackson is still dead (as is Generalissimo Francisco Franco) and will presumably stop making news some time soon.
But Sarah Palin will forever make headlines and late night joke lines and blogoshpere fodder. She is the Political Undead.
Sanford owes her big.
If someone over 40 uses the word, “twit” to mean a jerk or twerp, will a person under 40 have any idea what that means and is there a new definition of “twit” in the Age of Twitter?
I never thought I would write, let alone think, that I feel sorry for Sarah Palin. But her progressively steeper downward spiral is as ooky as watching photo montage of Michael Jackson as he morphed from a person to plastic surgery super-weirdo. By contrast, Kerry’s various explanations of being for the Iraq War before he was against it are models of clarity. Based on what I read about her second press conference to clarify her first press conference, I imagine that, by the time this political sideshow ends, there will be an anthology of clarifying statements for future generations to ponder.
I think she will be responsible for a new words in the English lexicon: palinate: (verb) means to implode or self-immolate. palination: (noun) implosion or self-immolation.
I feel bad for her kids.
So, today I happen to speak to many people who are fluent English speakers and English is their second, third and, in one case, fourth language. Each one speaks English more coherently and with better grammar than does Sarah Palin. Of course, they each assumed that they were rusty on idioms because they couldn’t understand her. Idiom is not the word that fits.
I think the press ought to call it the 24-hour news REcycle. Because if you watch one network long enough you see the repeat segments as “breaking news” (thereby rendering that statement inaccurate). Also, the new name is eco-friendly.